2024-09-14 16:51:30
The CDU wants it, and the SPD in part does too. Now the Liberals in Parliament are also acknowledging it: Anyone who comes to Germany as a “Dublin” refugee should be able to be stopped at the border.
The FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag wants to take a tougher approach to migration and asylum policy. In a paper that the MPs adopted during a closed meeting in Hamburg, they are calling for, among other things, the rejection of refugees at German borders, the cancellation of social benefits for those required to leave the country, faster deportations and pilot projects for asylum procedures in third countries outside the EU.
“We want immigration into the labor market, not into the social security systems,” says the paper, which contains a total of 51 ideas and measures for a better migration policy on 23 pages. These include numerous suggestions for better integration of immigrants into society and the labor market.
For example, the Liberals are calling for more widespread distribution across Germany in order to improve contact with the local population and prevent the emergence of parallel societies. Conversely, the FDP faction also wants to demand a willingness to integrate. Integration courses should be compulsory for everyone with a realistic prospect of staying in the country.
However, what is likely to cause significantly more attention and discussion is what has dominated the debate recently anyway: the demand for the rejection of so-called “Dublin” refugees at the German external border.
The CDU, under its party and parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz, has recently been particularly vocal in this regard. At the migration summit on Tuesday, federal and state representatives from the SPD, Greens, FDP and CDU were unable to agree on a common line on this issue, partly because of legal concerns. Merz then gave the traffic light parties an ultimatum until next Tuesday to commit to such a course of action.
With the FDP MPs, who have a decisive say in potential legal reforms as coalition partners, the first traffic light faction has now thrown its weight behind the Union. Previously, only a few Social Democrats had signaled openness to the issue.
The FDP parliamentary group’s paper, which t-online has seen, states that refugees who enter Germany via another EU state in which they should actually have their asylum procedure – refugees who fall under the Dublin rule – should be sent back to the countries responsible for the procedures more often. And it continues: “In addition, refugees must be reliably turned back at the German border if Germany is not responsible for the asylum procedures.” At the same time, the MPs are calling for an extension of the temporary border controls on the occasion of the European Football Championship and the Olympic Games.
If Dublin refugee applies to those who should actually be granted asylum in another EU country. The name is derived from the Dublin Convention, a treaty under international law which basically states: If a person applies for asylum in the EU, the country in which they first arrived is generally responsible for examining the application. Because Germany has no external border with the EU, this theoretically means that Germany is not responsible for refugees who enter the country by land. In practice, however, the Dublin Convention is considered to have failed because Eastern European countries in particular simply allow refugees to travel on. In the coming years, Dublin is therefore to be replaced by the Common European Asylum Policy (CEAS).
In an interview with t-online, deputy parliamentary group leader Christoph Meyer said of this demand: “It is clear to the FDP, and we share the Union’s view, that the numbers of illegal immigrants must go down.” The necessary changes in asylum policy now depend on the Union and the Greens. “The FDP and SPD are prepared to reject people at the German borders.” He therefore hopes that the CDU and CSU are interested in “a serious solution.”
Most recently, in an interview with t-online, Lower Saxony’s Interior Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) also spoke out in favor of turning away Dublin refugees at the border. “If it is legally possible – and that must be examined very thoroughly – then we should do it,” she said. (Read the entire interview here.) The Greens are very cautious about the proposal. The party traditionally supports a policy that stands for open borders. The Greens have also long been critical of “large-scale” deportations, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) called for last winter.
According to its position paper, the FDP wants to allow deportations to third countries other than the country of origin. It also demands a resumption of regular deportations to Syria and Afghanistan. In addition, the federal and state governments must set up “joint departure centers” at major German airports.
The Liberals want to continue to “reduce the wrong incentives in the social security systems” in order to eliminate factors that encourage migration to Germany. To do this, the level of asylum seeker benefits must be “critically” examined and – as the government is now planning – social benefits for people who are required to leave the country must be cut. In addition, asylum seekers should be “increasingly required to do community service.”